Sermon for April 26, 2026
Readings:
Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Much has been said and written about how the first Christians lived out their faith in response to the Resurrection of our Lord. The Book of Acts gives us the best picture that we have of what happened during those, days, weeks, months, and years after that first Easter Sunday. It was a time of rapid growth for the church, even during a time of persecution and political and social upheaval. The bible makes it clear that the disciples’ lives changed radically and dramatically after they witnessed Jesus rise from the grave. One aspect of that change was the relationship the disciples had with materials things. Possessions. We are told that the disciples sold their possessions and distributed their goods and wealth to those who had need. They shared and held things in common as a community. That is clearly recorded in the bible, as you just heard, so regardless of how you feel about that, that is a part of how the first Christians lived.
That little detail often gets a lot of attention which this passage is read out, and I think that that probably says more about us and our concerns than it does the early Christians. There is a part of us that just wants to focus on the economics here. Are these early Christians like some sort of monastic order, or a hippie commune? Did these people really give up all their possessions? How was the wealth distributed? Who decided? Is this a biblical argument for communism or socialism? Would I be willing to give up my possessions that way? So many questions go through our heads and I have heard so many bad interpretations of this passage. As people who have lived in the late twentieth and early twenty-fist century, we have been conditioned to focus on the economic questions here. We have all been conditioned by our society to be materialists, so it is only natural that this radical change the disciples had in their relationship to material things is going to get our attention. But is that really the most important part of that story?
We have to be careful about projecting too much of our own baggage into the story. The Book of Acts was not written as propaganda for a political or economic philosophy. Those disciples that were sharing their possessions were disciples of Jesus Christ, not Karl Marx. This is not a story about socialism or communism or even capitalism for that matter. Our modern day political philosophies that we fight over really have very little to do with this. You will notice that no government is forcing the disciples to give up their money. This isn’t a tax, it’s a tithe. More than that it is a sacred offering of everything that is given freely without coercion. Taxes are a political question. They are something our leaders haggle over endlessly. Who gets taxes, what gets taxed, how much that tax is and what the government does with the money once it is collected…those are all political questions, and rightly so. There is nothing wrong with that, and part of living in a democracy means having to work together to answer those questions for our common good. But that is not what this passage from Acts is about.
You will notice that the disciples are sharing their goods of their own free will. None of them is getting a bill or a letter from the IRS. None of them is being forced to sell their stuff or contribute. They are just doing it. They are just sharing. How is it that the disciples can just freely share their stuff this way?
There is a little detail in our Acts passage today that I think gets rather overlooked. We want to so focus on the sharing of possessions that we miss something even more important.
Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.
With glad and generous hearts. The disciples are gathering together, praying and sharing meals with each other with glad and generous hearts. They are prayerful and they are joyful. That is the critical thing here. That is the important detail. The disciples are joyful. They all still suffered and had pain, and were persecuted and ostracized, but they had joy. It is the joy that made the disciples new way of life possible. It is the joy that changed them. And it is the joy the radically transformed their relationship with material goods. The disciples didn’t need to look for happiness in possessions anymore because they had found it someplace much better. They weren’t joyful because they were sharing their goods; they were sharing their goods because they were joyful.
They weren’t joyful because they were sharing their goods; they were sharing their goods because they were joyful. The joy came first. It was the joy that made the sharing possible. The disciples didn’t sell their goods to find happiness; they found their happiness and discovered that it wasn’t in material things. The joy came first. It was the joy that made the sharing possible. People didn’t need to hoard and covet all their things anymore, because now they had found something truly precious. The disciples didn’t sell their stuff because someone made them do it; they did it freely because they had joy in the Lord and it brought them even more joy to serve the Lord and serve his people. The disciples weren’t in the Temple because someone made them go. They weren’t hanging out and breaking bread with other Christians because they were forced to. This was no holy day of obligation. The disciples were worshipping and praying and eating and sharing, because that is what they wanted to do. They found joy in it. Joy, not fear. Joy, not obligation. Joy, not guilt. The disciples found joy in the Lord and in his presence. They had the joy, joy, joy, joy down in their hearts like the old Sunday School song goes. That is why they shared their possessions. That is why they prayed every day. That is why they gathered together as the church. Because they had joy. And that is why their numbers grew. Joy was the lifeblood of the early church. They had plenty of pain and suffering, but they also had joy in the lord and that is what made all of their ministry possible. Joy is still the lifeblood of the church. We can live without a lot of things as the church, but we can’t live without joy. Not for long.
So ask yourself why you are here today. Are you here because you have joy? Are you here because you are looking for it? Those are the best reasons to be here. If Jesus called you here today, did you come running with joy in your heart, or did you have to be dragged through the door kicking and screaming? This isn’t a judgement, because I have been in both positions, but I will tell you which one is better. I was reminded just this week actually.
One afternoon I was in the backyard playing with Charlie our golden retriever. The rectory yard is partially fenced, but there are a few open areas still. Anyways, Charlie got out and was headed into the neighbor’s yard. And I called him, and he turned right around and came bounding back toward me with a silly goofy grin on his face. I didn’t have any treats or rewards for him. He just heard me call and wanted to be in my presence. If only I could be as consistently obedient and joyful when God calls me.
Inwardly Digest 